


Countdown

by elliemoran



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Adoption, Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-10 22:52:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12309543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliemoran/pseuds/elliemoran
Summary: When Yuuri agreed to start the adoption process, he thought he and Victor would have plenty of time. Years to get used to the idea, and then a few more to prepare their house, their relationship. Themselves.They have six months.And for Yuuri, at least, it REALLY isn't going to be enough.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on finishing my incomplete fics in other fandoms, but this story has been distracting me from other things for over a year, and I just couldn't leave it alone any longer. 
> 
> I ADORE these two, and I hope you enjoy this fic.

With disbelief, shock, and some horror, Yuuri stared down at the phone in his hand. The screen was deceptively blank now, as if it hadn’t just been instrumental in knocking his world off of its axis.

He told himself to play the message again, to make absolutely certain he’d heard what he thought he’d heard, but couldn’t quite make his fingers work to do it. What if he’d misunderstood? What if it wasn’t true?

What if it  _was_?

He raised his eyes from the phone, until he faced the too-pale blur of his own reflection in the vanity mirror in front of him. The bathroom he stood in would probably have been considered oversized, if it weren’t for the towering stacks of unopened cardboard boxes taking up most of it. He and Victor had left a path just wide enough to edge through from door to sink to toilet, and since they hadn’t gotten around to putting in the bathtub yet or filling the gaping hole in the wall that would eventually be the shower, and since there were two other slightly more functional bathrooms on this floor of the house, the state of the bathroom hadn’t seemed like more than a mild inconvenience.

They’d been living in the house for almost a year, and had mostly ignored all the rooms but their bedroom and the kitchen. That was all going to have to change now.

Assuming he hadn’t misheard that phone message.

Yuuri took a deep breath, a little amused at himself in spite of it all. There was just so much going on inside his chest. He recognized the familiar dead weight of panic, of course, and the exhilaration that had his heart thumping in his chest, the hair on the back of his neck lifting. There was fear, and joy, and a deep sense of unreality. He really couldn’t decide what emotion was winning.

 _Panic. Definitely panic._  

Gently, with careful control, Yuuri braced one hand on the cold, white marble of the countertop.

He took one last deep breath.

“Victor.”

No one answered, which didn’t surprise Yuuri, as his voice had been barely above a whisper. He cleared his throat and tried again.

“Victor.” Even to his own ears, his voice sounded remarkably squeaky. It worked well enough though.

 “Yuuri? Did you call me? What’s wrong?” Victor’s concerned voice came from the other side of the bathroom door. 

Yuuri opened his mouth to answer, and then realized he couldn’t find any words. Just-

“Victor.”

“What happened? Can I come in? Yuuri?” 

A moment of silence later and the handle twisted, the door was yanked open, and Victor stood in the doorway. His blue eyes were wide with alarm as they scanned over Yuuri, taking stock, settling on his bloodless face. With a frown, Victor eased into the room, slipping past boxes until he stood directly in front of Yuuri.

“Are you alright?”

In answer, Yuuri held out his phone to Victor. “I had a message. From the lawyer.”

Clearly not understanding, Victor shook his head.

“I thought it was just…just nothing. Nothing important. Another form we have to sign or something. But it isn’t.” Yuuri pushed the hand holding the phone against Victor’s chest. “Listen.”

Victor studied Yuuri’s face for another second before wrapping one arm around his shoulders, tugging him in firmly against his side.

And then he played the message.

“Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov. This is Mr. Hoga, of Hoga Law.  I’m calling to let you know your petition was approved by the agency.”

At that, Victor’s eyes widened, and a wide smile stretched across his face. He started to wrap his other arm around Yuuri, but let it fall when Yuuri shook his head. “Keep listening.”  

A part of Yuuri still wasn’t quite sure he’d heard what he’d heard the first time, but he didn’t bother listening to the dry, elderly male voice still coming out of his phone, echoing off of the boxes around them. Instead, he watched Victor’s face in the mirror.

And he found himself starting to believe.   

“…highly unusual, Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov, as I was not exaggerating in the least when I told you that the process in cases such as this often takes more than a few years, but it appears they do already have a suitable match. The child is due in late November. If you accept, we will carry forward with the adoption procedure-”

The rest was lost. Victor whooped, dropping the phone and yanking Yuuri in for a rib crushing hug before lifting him off of his feet, whirling him around in the air. Or at least, trying to.

They both crashed into everything, Yuuri felt the edge of the vanity hit his hip with bruising force and heard the ominous sounds of boxes crashing to the ground somewhere deep inside the room before Victor slipped, or tripped, or just decided the floor was where he wanted to be and they both went down together.

Yuuri landed sprawled across Victor’s chest, his hands braced on the floor on either side of Victor’s head. As he stared down into his husband’s beautiful, beaming face, he felt the heavy panic in his gut loosen its grip, his own joy winning over his fears as he saw the bright shimmer of happiness in Victor’s eyes.

“Yuuri. We’re going to be parents.”

“Yes.” Yuuri felt his own grin widen, delighted by the dazed wonder in Victor’s face. Another box thumped down to the ground somewhere behind them. “We are.” With a laugh, Yuuri dropped his head until his mouth met Victor’s in a long, slow kiss.

“I love you.” Victor’s words were a soft murmur against Yuuri’s lips.

With a shaky sigh, Yuuri ducked his head away, down, until he could press his face to the warm skin where Victor’s shoulder and neck met. “I love you too.”

“Well, then.” In what was probably meant to be a smooth motion, Victor wrapped his arms around Yuuri, twisting in the narrow space between boxes and cabinet until Yuuri lay beneath him.  As willing as Yuuri was, there wasn’t much room to maneuver, and by the time they were done Yuuri was laughing helplessly at the disgruntled expression on Victor’s face.

Still, when Victor’s body settled heavily between his spread thighs, the laughter hitched in his throat.

Slowly, Victor grinned. “I think it is time to celebrate.”  

“Uh-huh.” Yuuri sighed happily. But when Victor slid down to trail kisses beneath his jaw, he remembered something. “Wait, Victor-” Even as Yuuri set a hand against Victor’s shoulder, he angled his head, giving him better access. “Lilia and Yakov are coming for dinner. We don’t have time.”

“We can make time.” Victor’s hands slipped down, around and beneath Yuuri’s body until his long fingers gripped the cheeks of Yuuri’s butt.

“You’re not playing fair.”

“I think I’m playing very fair.” Victor raised his head until he could smile down at Yuuri. He used his hands to angle Yuuri’s hips up, into better contact with his own. “See?”

With a laugh, Yuuri slid his legs up around Victor’s thighs, wiggling to give himself enough room in the narrow space between boxes and sink. “Fine. But you have to help me get everything ready.”

“Of course.” Eyes bright, Victor’s hands squeezed. “I’ll help.” 

“That’s not-” laughing, Yuuri gave up. He wrapped his arms around Victor’s neck, and let himself go. 


	2. Chapter 2

The carpet around Yuuri was littered with an assortment of screws, tools, and fragments of what would eventually become – according to the instructions – a crib.

Yuuri wasn’t sure he believed anything the instructions said anymore.

The box had said the thing could be ‘easily’ assembled in fifteen minutes, but he’d already been struggling with it for almost two hours. Of course, the box had also called for two sets of hands, but Yuuri adamantly refused to believe that that was the reason he’d been having so much trouble.

He half crouched on the floor of the bedroom in the center of the scattered mess, one arm awkwardly bracing the far side of the crib’s frame as he tried to slip the angled hex key into the tiny slot at the bottom that should – according to those damned instructions – hold everything together long enough for him to get the rest of the screws in place.

As he fought with the crib, he found his mind, once again, wandering in the direction of his absent husband. Where _was_ Victor? They were due at the lawyer’s office in - he spared a quick look up at the clock beside the bed – less than an hour.

When Victor had left him early that morning with a quick kiss and an airy ‘be back soon’, Yuuri had still been mostly unconscious, too groggy to ask any questions. Instead, he’d curled up under the covers and gone back to sleep. 

When he’d woken a few hours later, he’d been happy to have the rest of the morning to himself. He’d taken his time over coffee, a large, not- _entirely_ -healthy breakfast, a second cup of coffee. He’d spent more time debating a third cup before deciding it wouldn’t make enough of an additional dent in his fatigue to be worth the extra jitters.

He wasn’t sure what was worse these days, the nerves or the exhaustion. 

Yakov didn’t seem to know which was worse either, but he’d been doing a lot more yelling at Yuuri during training lately.

Yuuri was starting to wonder if he should just take the season off, after all. He and Victor had decided to keep competing, even with the baby coming. They both knew how hard it was to come back after a break, and it wasn’t as if they didn’t have an abundance of willing and eager babysitters ready to help out. Axel, Lutz, and Loop had already had to be talked out of moving into one of their spare bedrooms - they were somehow far more excited about this baby than the twin brothers their mother had given birth to earlier in the year.

Since neither of them wanted this part of their career to be over, they’d decided to continue competing. But there was so much to do, even before the baby arrived. _Especially_ before the baby arrived.

So they’d compromised, sort of. They carried on training as hard as they’d ever done during the day, and spent their nights working on the house. Which was reason enough for Yuuri’s exhaustion, but had nothing to do with the nervous energy that made everything so much worse.

And Yuuri couldn’t pretend he was performing at anywhere near professional competitive level. It had gotten so bad lately that even in practice he could barely land a double, and Yakov had threatened to ban him from quads _and_ triples until he could stop messing up so badly.

As far as Yuuri could see, Victor was still performing beautifully, despite being on the exact same schedule. It might have irritated him except somehow Victor was getting yelled at by Yakov almost as much as he was.

Possibly more.

Whatever the reason, Yakov had insisted that Yuuri and Victor both take the weekend off from any practice, of any kind, which was why the two of them had stayed up until the early hours of the morning the night before, finishing off the final layers of paint on all the downstairs rooms.

Yuuri was pretty sure that hadn’t been what Yakov had intended, but it had been necessary.  

They’d known the house would need a great deal of work when they bought it, but they’d both liked the idea of putting their own stamp on their first home together. Besides, not only had it been the first home they’d both agreed on – though, to Yuuri, it was almost ridiculously oversized, and yet far smaller than the near palaces Victor had first picked out – but they’d also both fallen in love with it at first sight.

Buying the house had been one of the requirements of the adoption agency they’d carefully selected, but they’d thought they’d have years to play with it before bringing home a baby. 

They had four months left. Yuuri wasn’t sure he’d survive them. 

He felt the little tool in his hand finally slip into place, and jerked his mind back to the task at hand. Holding his breath, he cautiously turned the wrench until it wouldn’t move anymore.

Still not breathing, he let go and slowly eased away, as surprised as he was gratified when all sides of the crib frame stayed where they were. Not giving anything a chance to change its mind, he grabbed the next packet of screws and got to work slipping them into place.

It wasn’t until he was tightening the very last one that he realized he’d attached the delicately carved panels at the front and back of the crib on backwards.  He squinted, trying to decide if anyone would be able to tell.

Maybe not. But  _he’d_  know.

With a long, drawn out sigh, Yuuri started to undo the screws. 

When his phone buzzed, he dropped the wrench and almost threw himself onto the bed, where he’d thrown his phone the last time he’d tried and failed to reach Victor.

“Hello? Victor?”

“Yuuri! I can’t wait to show you everything I’ve found!” Victor’s voice, all excitement, was almost drowned out by loud, tinny music and the chatter of high pitched, female voices.

“Where are you? We need to head to the lawyers office soon.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll be there. But first, I found the perfect fireplace to go in the nursery, but I can’t remember how wide the doorway is. Could you measure it for me?”

“What?”    

“Oh, Yuuri, it’s _marvelous_. Magical. It’s electric so it’s perfectly safe, and we can make the flames any color we want. It can be a heater _and_ an air conditioner. And it’s energy efficient!”

“We don’t need a fireplace for the nursery.”

“But you said you wanted a nightlight?”

Yuuri heard one of the female voices ask ‘Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov’ if he preferred silver or gold accents. “A fireplace isn’t a nightlight.”

“Well, yes, but it can be both!”

“Victor, I meant just a little plug in thing. Something so we can see without turning on the lights.”

“Exactly! And this will keep the room warm, too.”

“We have central heating. No fireplace, Victor.”

Victor sighed, long and deeply. “I think it would be amazing.”

Yuuri found himself grinning up at the ceiling, even as he threw an arm over his eyes. “I’m sure it would be.”

“Well, then-”

“No fireplace, Victor.”

Victor sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll just pay for the rest then.”

“The rest?” Losing the grin, Yuuri sat bolt upright. “What are you buying, Victor?”

“A few things. I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

“Victor?”

But Victor had already hung up. With a sigh, Yuuri dropped back down onto the blankets and tried not to worry about what else Victor was bringing home. They still had so much unpacking left to do – they’d mainly moved the stacks of boxes from room to room as they painted around them – and most of the boxes were Victor’s.

He heard the creak of the door, soft padding on the carpet. A second later the bed dipped as Makkachin hopped up onto it.

The dog sniffed at Yuuri’s face, and Yuuri reached up to stroke his soft head. When Makkachin plopped down beside him, Yuuri let out another long sigh. “I hope he didn’t buy anything too big.”

Makkachin snorted.

 

\--

 

When Victor walked in just over a quarter of an hour later, Yuuri was waiting downstairs, dressed and ready and anxiously studying the two giant plastic bags Victor carried in.

“What did you buy, Victor?”

Victor dropped a kiss on Yuuri's forehead as he brushed past him towards the staircase. 

"A few things. I'll get changed. I like your tie today."

Blinking, Yuuri glanced down at his chest. "You should. You bought it for me." 

"I did, didn't I?" With a soft laugh, Victor started up the stairs. “You should wear what I buy you more often.”  

“I have to, all my old stuff keeps disappearing.” Finally realizing Victor had successfully distracted him, Yuuri followed him up the stairs. “Victor, you didn’t buy anything especially extravagant, did you?”

“Of course not.”

Barely restraining himself from rolling his eyes, Yuuri followed the sound of Victor’s voice to the bedroom and found Victor studying the partly built crib as he pulled off his shirt.

“You started on the crib.”

“Ah, I messed up. These things are on backwards.” Yuuri ran his fingers across the shallow carvings that should have faced inwards.

“I see.” Victor turned away and dropped the shirt he’d been wearing in the laundry hamper. He started to unbutton his jeans. “Didn’t the box say that it needed two people to build?”

Yuuri snorted. “Uh-huh. Evidently they meant it too.”

“I thought we’d planned to do it together?” Victor’s voice was utterly neutral.

“Well, yeah.” Yuuri shrugged, suddenly feeling, somehow, as if he’d made more of a misstep than simply putting a few pieces on backwards. “I just thought I’d start on my own.”

But as sure as Yuuri was that he’d somehow upset Victor, he could read nothing unusual in Victor’s expression when Victor turned back to face him. He started to relax shoulder muscles he hadn’t realized had been tightening, only to tense again as Victor walked over to study the incomplete crib more closely.   

“I’ll fix it. I just ran out of time.”

“No. I like it.” Victor gently brushed his hand over the side of the crib. “It’s entirely one-of-a-kind.”

“Oh.” Yuuri looked down, trying to see what Victor was looking at. “I see.”

“Yes. Absolutely no one else will have one like ours.”

“I guess not.”

“ _No one_.”

Finally getting Victor’s point, Yuuri scowled up at him. “Victor. Is that meant to be a dig.”

With a slow, wicked grin, Victor turned back to the closet. “We’ll finish the rest, together, when we get back from the lawyer's office.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, this is later and shorter than expected, I had an on/off/on again migraine, so with work and class too my whole schedule went out the window.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, I hope you enjoy :)

Mr. Hoga’s office was all dark woods, somber carpets, and hushed voices. Muted pools of light from the shaded lamps that sat just a little too far apart, turned down just a little too low, created intimate islands in the shadows of the dimly lit room. The secretary that had shown them in and stayed to assist Mr. Hoga wore a skirt suit in sober grey, her hair in a respectable black bun that didn’t quite manage to disguise how young and pretty she actually was.

Yuuri never walked into the place without feeling as though he had stepped into some Hollywood set designer’s idea of what a lawyer’s office should look like. The desks were shiny, unscarred, clearly too new to be the antiques they pretended to be, the carpet a rough and bristly imitation of something meant to be rich and luxurious, and the invitingly rounded leather couches had as much give as stone planks.

Even the hundreds of bound books filling the bookshelves that lined the walls seemed like props, chosen entirely for appearance and with no real practical function. Once, during a meeting that had gone on far too long, Yuuri had counted twelve identical cloth-bound copies of John Duncan’s _Astronomy_ on one wall.

He’d figured Mr. Hoga must have picked the book because it was blue.

When he’d first met Mr. Hoga, with his dry-as-dust voice, wire-rimmed glasses, and expensive grey suit even Yuuri could see didn’t suit his thin frame that well, he’d thought the man must be as shallow as his office.

He’d been wrong. Mr. Hoga was a very, very good lawyer, so good that Yuuri had started to wonder if the subtle air of cheapness he and his office gave off was an intentional disguise.

The man had dealt with the legal issues of a same-sex couple of different nationalities marrying, buying property together, and, more recently, adopting a child, and he’d done it all so effortlessly that Yuuri had started to forget there was anything unusual to it in the first place.  

All he and Victor had ever had to do was sign things. Many, many things. Which was what they’d been doing for the past hour.

“This should be the last one.” Mr. Hoga slid a sheet of paper across the table to where Yuuri and Victor sat on a low – uncomfortable - sofa. “You’ll both need to sign. It states that you understand that neither biological parent wishes for contact except in medical emergencies.”

Nodding, Yuuri signed beside his name and handed the form to Victor. As he watched Victor sign, he shifted his position, yet again, on the couch. As well as being hard as a rock, the couch was angled and slippery. He kept sliding off.  

Mr. Hoga accepted the paper back from Victor. He looked it over, nodded, and then handed it to the secretary standing at his shoulder. “Either parent can, of course, change their mind at a later date, and if the child eventually wishes contact each consenting party would be given the relevant information.”

“Ok. We’re done then?” Yuuri asked.

“Yes, yes. Very nearly.” Mr. Hoga let his lips curve in what was, for him, a smile.

When Yuuri started to slip forward again, Victor wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him in snugly against his side.

Mr. Hoga seemed not to notice, but the secretary did, and her small, happy sigh made Yuuri blush, even as he let himself lean in against Victor.

“Now, while your wills are sufficient, the agency will require that you file a custody agreement in case of separation.”

“Separation?” Victor’s voice was mild.    

“If you dissolve your relationship, you would need to decide and legally state how you would divide custody.”

Victor’s arm tightened slightly around Yuuri. “That won’t be necessary.

“Ah. Well, Mr. Nikiforov-” Mr. Hoga’s faint smile stayed in place as he glanced towards Yuuri, as if for help.

Yuuri had no idea what to say. He tried anyway. “Victor-”  

“It won’t be necessary.”

“Yes, but…” Yuuri’s voice trailed off when he finally registered exactly how much Victor’s body had tensed against his side. He’d gone so stiff he was almost vibrating. “It’s just a formality. Right, Mr. Hoga?”

“Oh, yes.” There might have been relief on Mr. Hoga’s face as he seized on the words. “It would only become active in that very specific situation. If that situation never occurs then it is simply for formality’s sake.”

“See?” Yuuri pulled away, leaning forward until he could look into Victor’s face. “No big deal.” He smiled, and was relieved to see a trace of an answering smile.

Mr. Hoga stood. “You can discuss the details between yourselves. Let me know within the next few weeks and I’ll draw it up.”

As Yuuri and Victor stood too, the secretary coughed. When Mr. Hoga ignored her, she coughed again, louder.

When all three men looked at her blankly, she sighed. “The envelope, Mr. Hoga.”

“Oh, yes. How could I forget.” The lawyer reached down, picked up a manila envelope still on the table, and held it out.

Yuuri took it, automatically, as he’d been taking everything else he’d been handed since they walked in. He barely noticed as the lawyer and his secretary left the room, all his attention on the return address boldly stamped on one corner of the envelope.

“Yuuri? What is it?”

“Here.” Yuuri thrust the thing against Victor’s chest. “You open it.”

Blinking, Victor took the envelope and peeled open the seal. When the black and white image inside slipped out into his hand, he simply stared at it.

The room was silent for a long minute. Yuuri felt himself getting lightheaded, only then realizing he needed to breathe.

Suddenly, Victor sat back down on the couch, hard enough that Yuuri wondered if he’d bruised himself. He dropped the empty envelope to the table and held the ultrasound picture in both hands, staring down at it.

When he looked up at Yuuri, his eyes shimmered with magnificent tears, and Yuuri’s breath caught in his throat. He hoped he never let slip how much he loved looking at Victor’s crying face. The man’s tears were so beautiful, even as they broke Yuuri’s heart.  

There were no thoughts in his head as he used one hand to brush Victor’s hair back from his face, bracing the other on his shoulder as he leaned down to kiss the glittery tears away. When he pulled back, Victor wasn’t crying anymore.

He smiled, the soft, almost uncertain smile that was far more elusive than his tears and did far more damage to Yuuri’s heart. “Did you see? It’s our baby. Our baby is real.”

“I know.” Yuuri managed a smile back. “We’d better get back to the house.”

Victor blinked. “Why?”

“We really need to finish unpacking.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short weekend to write I'm hoping to have an evening off this week to respond to your comments, which are lovely and fuel me much :) 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Late at night, Yuuri woke with Victor’s arms around him.

He lay still for a long minute, listening to his own heart pound in his chest. He knew it was a dream that had woken him, he could still feel the sticky tendrils of it at the back of his mind, but the dream itself was already a faded, blank blur.

As it had been every other night he’d woken up, just like this, for the past few months.

Victor’s arms fell away as Yuuri sat up. He scrubbed at his face, trying to push away the lingering, nameless panic he couldn’t quite remember the cause of.

“Bad dream?” Victor’s voice was soft, a little slurred, and his eyes, when Yuuri glanced back at his shadowed face, were unfocused and still mostly shut.

“Something like that. I’m sorry I woke you.”

“Hmm. You didn’t.” With a sleepy yawn that made a lie of his words, Victor tugged Yuuri back down to lie against his chest, pulling the blankets up around them both. “Sleep, Yuuri.”

“Yeah.” Yuuri squeezed his eyes shut. He nestled closer, into the soft heat of Victor, and tried to slip back into sleep. Experience had told him he probably wouldn’t be able to, but he tried anyway.

As Victor’s breathing evened, the gentle rise and fall of his chest soothed Yuuri, and he felt himself relax, just a little. Even so, he didn’t fall asleep. Instead, he tilted his head back so he could study Victor’s sleeping face.

Moments like this still sometimes felt a little dreamlike to him, though he’d long since realized that his adoration of Victor the skater was a pure, pale thing, when he compared it with the love and lust he felt for Victor the man. He’d never thought of himself as capable of such depth and intensity, and he’d certainly never expected to actually wind up in the same bed as either the idol or the man.

He’d had some fantasies over the idol, of course, but none of his fantasies ever included the both of them wearing matching pajamas while they snuggled together under blankets his mother had given them as an engagement present.

Victor started snoring, ever so slightly, and Yuuri smiled to himself.

Since sleep wasn’t happening, he decided he might as well get started. Slowly, he pulled away until Victor’s arm landed softly back on the mattress. He tucked the covers back over Victor and then slid towards the edge of the bed.

It took a long time. There was a hell of a lot of bed to slide over. It was probably one of the few things his old fantasies might have gotten right – the bed was a giant, orgy sized thing, all heavy carved wood and the largest, thickest mattress Yuuri had ever seen. It made the big master bedroom look tiny. When Victor had first brought it home, Yuuri had been speechless, and then convinced they’d never get it through the doorway.

He’d been wrong, and Victor had barely waited for the delivery men to leave before he’d started teaching Yuuri how enjoyable a bed the size of a small lake could be, especially with a good mattress.

It was one of Yuuri’s favourite things now, except when he was trying to get out of it without waking Victor.

Finally reaching the edge, Yuuri slid to the floor, and padded across the room to the door. They’d left it open enough for Makkachin to go in and out, so he was able to slip out without making any more noise.

And then he stood in the hallway, unsure what to do. He needed to put together the bed in the guest bedroom, but he really needed Victor for that. There were shelves in the living room that needed to be put up so they could unpack the boxes of books that were currently very in the way, and there were more boxes, full of kitchen things that really needed to be put away. They’d planned to do most of that next week, when Yurio came to visit, as they could draft him to help with the grunt work, but Yuuri could at least get started.

He could also work on hemming the curtains, but Victor was better and faster than him at anything involving thread or the sewing machine.

There was, of course, one other room in the house that most definitely needed to be finished, and he had no idea what state it was in, or what was left to do.

Taking a deep breath, Yuuri took a couple reluctant steps down the hall, and then stopped. He rubbed one foot over the other as he eyed the door to the nursery.

It wasn’t as if he’d been avoiding it. Exactly. He’d just left everything about it to Victor. He hadn’t been inside the room since they’d gotten word from the agency. After all, there had been plenty to do in the rest of the house. And he’d been doing plenty, hadn’t he? He’d even made the stupid crib, partly, though that would be staying in their own bedroom for the first month.

And Victor hadn’t asked him for help with the nursery. Not after the first time Yuuri had changed the subject when Victor brought it up.

Yuuri took another step, and then another, and then continued on past the nursery door to the guest bathroom at the end of the hall. Now that their own shower worked and they’d cleared out most of the boxes in the master bathroom, they didn’t need to use this one anymore. He should probably clean it to be ready for Yurio’s visit.

And he’d ask Victor about the nursery in the morning. Definitely in the morning.

Or maybe he'd wait until Yurio arrived. 


End file.
